The present invention relates generally to the field of data processing systems, and more particularly to identifying and maintaining a listing of storage devices that includes an image of an operating system that can boot a computing system.
To operate, a computing system (e.g., a computing entity) utilizes at least a basic operating system in response to starting or restarting (e.g., initial program loading). Some computing systems include a basic operating system (BOS) or firmware in non-volatile storage, such as non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), flash memory, and/or an electronically programmable read-only memory (EPROM). An example of firmware is a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) utilized by a computing system to perform hardware initializations and establish communications with storage devices that may include an operating system. In some computing systems that provision and initiate other computing systems, a hypervisor may include a BOS. In system virtualization, each computing entity behaves as if it were a separate computer.
A hypervisor allocates (e.g., provisions) various physical and virtual resources of a larger computing system to the computing entities that are hosted by the larger computing system. A Type-1 hypervisor (e.g., a native hypervisor) may load via firmware; whereas, a Type-2 hypervisor (e.g., a hosted hypervisor) executes as a process of a higher-level operating system. A higher-level operating system and information associated with configuring a computing system can be included in a bootable image of an operating system. In some architectures, the storage entities, such as a CD-ROM or hard disk, which include the images of bootable operating systems, are components of a computing system. In other architectures, the storage entities that include a bootable image of an operating system are included within a storage system, such as a storage area network (SAN) that is connected to a computing system via a network. The selection of a boot device that includes a bootable image of an OS can be input manually by an administrator of a computing system/data processing center, or the selection of a boot device can be preconfigured in the firmware (e.g., BIOS) of the computing system.